Federal Dairy Programs
Information on Inventory Management Activities Gao ID: RCED-90-119FS March 2, 1990Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA): (1) purchase and sale of dairy products under its dairy price support program; and (2) storage and transportation costs for dairy products.
GAO found that: (1) USDA dairy product purchases declined from 1.55 billion pounds in 1985 to 477 million pounds in 1989; (2) about 53 percent of total purchases were from companies in the upper midwest and southwest states; (3) commodity sales to commercial companies equaled about 2 percent of the total USDA dairy purchases during 1985 through 1989; (4) dairy product storage and handling costs declined from $62 million in 1985 to $13 million in 1989; (5) transportation costs declined from $67.1 million to $17 million during the same period; and (6) federal dairy stocks decreased from about 1.8 billion pounds in 1985 to 191 million pounds in 1989.